I'm from the Philippines, and a bit of an egoistic person, when it comes to my country, I try to defend misinformation from spreading about my country (things mostly in a geologic perspective). However, I encountered people from western countries, that always refute the Land Bridge and Waves of Migration, when someone brings up how the first settlers in my beloved country, came and settled. Now I was wondering if why they still refute it, I heard people say, that the low tide level couldn't be possible to create land bridges, which explains the presence of prehistoric fossils that date back to the pleistocene, and they tell me that the more probable thing to happen, which is the out of Taiwan model, is more probable than the waves of Migration. Can anyone explain to me, how the waves of Migration less probable than the Out of Taiwan model, and land bridges is impossible, if not highly unlikely, if the Philippines has fossils of prehistoric rhinos?
Op, based on a bit of research and what I learned from my professor who also works as an archeologist at the National Museum of the Philippines, studies on migration heavily lean towards the "Out of Taiwan" model. I understand that the wave migration theory by H.O. Beyer is one of the more popular theories out there, but it's already quite dated (c.1967) and disproven even by local anthropologists, as it follows the basis of 19th century theories on evolution and migration via land bridges.
The former model is more heavily accepted in the current times, largely originating from Peter Bellwood. There is more conclusive evidence found through this model, from the relation with the Austronesian language, to the archeological and genetic evidence that were found afterwards. It shows that the first group of Austronesians settled in the Batanes Islands from Taiwan, then started to disperse upon reaching Northern Luzon. Cagayan Valley is one of the richest archeological sites where they found remarkable artifacts and ecofacts that are roughly around 700,000 years old. I think these are also news to be proud of (see: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/05/stone-tools-rhinoceros-luzon-philippines-ancient-hominins-science/ ).